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Maren's list of environmental, cultural, and social justice events in and around Pittsburgh.

Feb 17: Green Drinks/Silent Spring at Six Penn Kitchen and the Symphony

Don't Forget to RSVP and Join Us For A Very Special Green Drinks:

A Silent Spring Evening honoring Rachel Carson

Join us at Six Penn Kitchen for Drinks and Dinner as a fundraiser for Rachel's childhood home, in Springdale, and then cross the street to Heinz Hall for the World Premier of "Silent Spring". A new symphony will debut, by composer-in-residence, Steven Stuckey, celebrating the 50th year anniversary of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, "Silent Spring".

This is going to be a memorable evening for all those who are involved in the environmental movement. Come celebrate 50 years of awareness, awakening and celebration at the special Silent Spring 50th Anniversary Green Drinks Event.

Come for Green Drinks, like aways, from 5-9 pm at Six Penn Kitchen; dinner at the restaurant (they've prepared a special menu, which you can view here, and will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Rachel Carson Homestead Association), and/or attend the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's premier of Steven Stuckey's "Silent Spring."

Call Six Penn at 412.566.7366(Dinner seating is limited to the first 100). Six Penn Kitchen is at 146 6th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, right across the street from Heinz Hall.

This will be a night to remember as we open our 8th year of Green Drinks and 50 years of modern environmentalism in the United States. Let's fill the place with our warmth, camaraderie and supportive advocacy so that we may never know a "Silent Spring".

What is Green Drinks? Every month, people who work in the environmental field or have in interest in a greener planet meet up for drinks at places all around the world at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.

These events are simple and unstructured. Make friends, develop new ideas, do deals and forge a new organic future. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help its spreading to other cities. Green Drinks meets on the last Thursday of the month (except in November). Put it in your calendar and count on it: Green Drinks is happening on the third Friday of every month -- check out the new calendar at thelocal GD web site, send questions or comments by email, or

Who is Maren?

Maren Cooke is a planetary scientist by training, but now concentrates on science and environmental education and activism on climate change, air quality, land use, energy, and sustainability. She serves on the board of the Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP), and works closely with other organizations including the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Sierra Club, Grow Pittsburgh, Transition Pittsburgh, the Green Education Movement, CMU’s Institute for Green Science, and the City of Pittsburgh. She volunteers as an Urban Ecosteward, a Tree Tender, and a Master Gardener, and co-founded a nature education program and a school garden at a local school. She has helped create science curricula and train teachers, and has taught physics, astronomy, environmental science, and permaculture to people of all ages. She operates an urban microfarm, supplying organic produce to a local restaurant and garden plants to the surrounding community, and has been rebuilding her family’s home as a demonstration site for green building and green living. Maren also organizes and hosts Sustainability Salons, a monthly environmental education forum and community gathering now six years running.